Saturday, May 30, 2009

Today after getting back from laying by the pool, I wasn't feeling very well (I actually almost fainted.....I think the sun got to me since I haven't laid out in quite some time and I don't think I had enough water in my system either), so Jonathan offered to make dinner tonight.

Oh man. I LOVE:

Good ole' chicken.

Cooked carrots.

Sweet corn.

SALAD!!!

And toast.

I am so very, very blessed. My husband treats me like a princess and I love him so much!!! Thank you God for good food, a kitchen to prepare it in, and a loving husband!!!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Sorry. It's been a while. There has been a lot going on since we last talked!!! I'll give you a brief run through:

-My car bit the dust. Yeah. Officially.

We were already down to just 1 car (mine) when we returned from Italy, because Jonathan's parents still owned the title to his car, and we hadn't yet had the chance to transfer that. Jonathan started back work at Neal-Prince for the summer the week we got back and since then he had either been riding to Greenville with his mom or I had been taking him back and forth.

On Tuesday of last week (May 19th), I had picked him up and we were in the Easley area headed to get dinner at Publix. We got about 1 mile away from Publix on Hwy. 123 headed South, when my car started making this AWFUL scrapping sound and the engine just cut off!!! We coasted into a "Cash Country" and Jonathan got out to check the damage. All of my "signal" lights (you know...the ones that light up in the display that signal you need to stop and fix something, ha!!) came on and as far as he could tell, he figured it to be some type of belt problem.

Ohhhh meeeee. So, we called my parents to come and get us and just walked over to Publix, I got some sushi (mmmmm love it) and then we walked over to Bojangles so Jonathan could get some chicken and we sat and ate our sushi and our fried chicken and waited on my parents to come.

We had my car towed to a local mechanic that Jonathan uses, and we were down to zero cars. What do we do???

THANKFULLY, Jonathan's very sweet grandparents let us borrow his papa's Dodge Ram truck. I look HILARIOUS driving this big ole' dodge!! It even has a CB antennae and the front plate says, "Tractor Man!!" It is a trip seeing me in that big ole' thing!!! :)

Because of this, Jonathan had to take the following day off, but this was good because we were able to take care of getting the title to his car transferred, paying the taxes on it, and getting his new license. This cost TOO much money, but put his car into working mode. Yay!!

-Jonathan's car goes kaput.

Yes, you're right that would put us down to technically, zero cars. But, thankfully (again) we had the big ole' truck!! :) After putting the new plate on and taking it for a drive, every time Jonathan came to a stop, his car cut off. And I personally didn't feel comfortable with my precious husband driving to work with his car in this condition (on Hwy. 85 and in downtown). SO. Back to driving the 1 car (truck) and taking him to work everyday.

Eventually (this past weekend), Jonathan put some new oil in his car and did a couple of other things and got it up and running!! YAY!! Back to 2 cars!!! He's got his 3000GT and I've got my big ole' dodge!! :) :)

So, in the meantime, we got a quote about fixing my car, $1500 (which we CANNOT afford to pay), so we are currently looking at other, cheaper options.

Until then, the Escort is out, but the 3000GT is in. :)

-We're in the middle of moving in and getting settled.

YAY!! After signing our lease agreement and other various forms on May 15th, then waiting out all the rain we've had, we FINALLY spent our first night in the apartment on Sunday, May 24th!!! :) :) :) The entire week in between, my wonderful husband was back and forth with his dad, and a time or two with our amazing friend Derrick, unloading all the tons of bins that we have had in storage and the attic with all of our stuff in them. We also had some larger pieces of furniture in storage that needed to be brought to the apartment.

After all of this was taken care of and after a SUPER busy weekend, on Sunday Jonathan's awesome parents helped us get my clothes (some...haha!!) up and stayed for several hours doing whatever we needed them to!! Sandra alphabetized our movie collection and hung our shower curtains among many other things and Jerry, well, he lined our kitchen shelves and complained the whole time!! HA!! Just kidding, because it was VERY tedious work and had he not done it, I don't know if it would have ever gotten done!!

Carrying his wifey over the threshold :)

Hanging curtains

Lining shelves

Since Sunday, we've been unpacking everything and organizing and deciding where we'd like to put stuff. It's so exciting setting up house....a lot of work, but SO exciting. I LOVE our new apartment!!! I mean love, love, love, LOVE!!! It's HUGE (or at least compared to what we've had for the past year as we've been moving around)!!!!!

Also, I have to say that it has been like getting married ALL over again (or even Christmas) with unpacking all of our stuff. A lot of our wedding gifts we didn't even take out of the packaging or even use because of our year of traveling. They were simply opened the day after our wedding and put right back into storage!! Some of it we forgot completely, or didn't even know we had. It's been so exciting!!!

AND, I will probably KISS my oven AND my dishwasher AND my washer and dryer for the next 12 months!!! I cannot tell you how THRILLED I am to have all 3 of these.....life is GRAND!!! :) I have probably used the dishwasher about 20 times already in the past 3 days!!

Washer and dryer.... Dishwasher....

And oven!!

-Still on the job hunt.

I'm supposed to hear about my interview that I had last week by the end of this week. Please pray that if this is God's will for the summer, that it will work out. We really need the extra income. And if this isn't what I'm supposed to do this summer, I know that God will reveal something even bigger.

Also, I'm still waiting to hear about the state of things for next school year. So, wait patiently I will. :)

I think that's about it. I did have the pleasure of taking photos at Rebekah's Bridal Shower this past Saturday which was a BLAST!! I cannot believe the wedding is only 1 month away!! She got tons of great stuff and I am so excited for what the future holds for her and Tyler. Marriage is awesome!!!

Me with the happy couple-to-be :)

We also had lunch with LMart today in downtown Greenville at Brick Street Cafe. She had Henry with her and we finally got to meet the adorable little man!! He is so funny and too cute!!! It was SO good to be able to spend time with Lindsey just hanging out and of course, eating!! ;) They're making the move tomorrow to Milwaukee for the next 4 months, so you can imagine how busy she'll be with that and Henry, so keep them in your prayers!! Thanks for treating us Linds...you are a great friend!!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Our move kind of turned out to be a big loss this weekend because of all the rain that we had. And don't get me wrong, if you know me at all, you know that I will be the first person sitting inside with a good book (or blanket ;) hehe), truly enjoying a rainy day!! It's the BEST sleeping weather for sure.

HOWEVER, when you have not only had no permanent home for 9 months, and even moreso, only 1 bedroom with a bed and 2 dressers to call your own for 4 months, you're ready to make that move!! :) And by saying that, it does not mean that we are not unbelievably thankful for the opportunities that we have been given to travel, move around, live in Italy, and meet such great people. We just want to feel settled.

Either way, it's spilt milk at this point. We did manage to get a good bit of stuff loaded, so we just have to get it up to Central now. We hope to move a little bit each night this week after Jonathan gets off from work. He works every day until 6PM, so that doesn't give us a whole lot of daytime, but if we work hard, we can get it done.

We did have some fun stuff going on this weekend that definitely made up for the loss of not being able to get moved in. Rusty, Jonathan's cousin and childhood friend, got married to Heather and it was a beautiful wedding!! These boys grew up playing together every day because they (along with all the rest of the neighborhood kiddos) stayed with Jonathan's grandmother during the summer and in the afternoons after school. I think it was really neat for Jonathan to see "little" Rusty all grown up saying, "I do!" We originally weren't going to be able to make it to their wedding, thinking that we would still be traveling in Europe, but we're so glad it worked out that we were able to be there to share the day with them. Heather was GORGEOUS and the colors she chose were so chic!!! I loved it!! If you want to see a few photos from it you definitely need to check them out atLindsey Mart's website. I'm sure some of you are saying, "Wait...I recognize that name!!" That's right...they too, like us, used our fabulous wedding photographer!!!

The Edens with the Branyons!! :) Heather was GORGEOUS...and Rusty looked handsome too!!

Me and my love at the wedding. We always wish, after going to all these weddings, that we could do ours all over again...it was just too much fun!!

This brings me to another highlight from this weekend....getting to spend some time with LMart!! We hadn't seen her since our own wedding, and Jonathan and I both have always said that after hiring her as our wedding photographer, we gained so much more than that. She is definitely a friend that we will cherish for many years to come!! We had a blast talking and catching up with her, seeing pictures of adorable baby Henry, hearing stories from her recent, crazy, traveling life, and in all the wedding fun, she even managed to sneak in a picture for old times sake of the Edens. We love her!!

Sunday was my daddy's 55th birthday!! 55!! I can't believe he's 55 years old. He doesn't look that old, or act that old, or even just seem that old to me. After church, Jonathan and I had lunch with he and my mama at Olive Garden (after not being in Italy for about 3 weeks, we were able to use some of our Italian with the waitress, haha!! It was really funny!!) and later that evening we also got to have dinner with him as well. Pizza...the Moore's love their Italian I guess!! Ha!! I'm so thankful we were able to spend the time with him. Aside from the rain (which means no golfing, and if you know my dad, that's not a good thing) and having to go into work for a couple of hours in the evening, I think he had a good birthday!!

Sidenote: In between coming home from Italy and moving and having my belongings in 3 different places, I misplaced my camera (this is VERY tragic if you know me at all)!!! So, VERY sadly and unfortunately, I did not have my camera for Mother's Day or my Daddy's birthday. I missed out on some really good family photo opportunities. So, I jacked a camera and took these 2 quick shots to show my awesome mama (for Mother's Day) and my awesome daddy (for his birthday)!! :)

Me and my daddy...55!!

And me and my mama...only a week after Mother's Day, ha!!

I have an interview for a summer job this morning, so if you're reading this, I would more than appreciate a quick prayer that it works out. That would be a HUGE blessing!! And maybe later this week I'll have the time (and internet) to post a couple of moving pictures and/or pictures of the apartment. Until then I am busy, busy with lots going on!!

Friday, May 15, 2009

Yes folks, you read that correctly, we're officially Stateside and have been since almost 2 weeks ago, Sunday, May 3rd. I apologize for not blogging sooner, but we've been busy visiting with family and friends, as well as looking for a more permanent residence.

It's been really good to be home although we miss our friends in Italy very much!! We are so thankful for the past 4 months and the opportunities that God so graciously gave us. We have seen a lot, done a lot, and met a ton of folks along the way. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime, and we will never forget the experiences that we were able to share together as newlyweds. We have made new, lifelong friends (Clemson classmates as well as our Italian buddies) that we will cherish for years to come. We are beyond blessed, and I hope that we never cease to give God thanks for this daily.

The only luggage we were allowed to take for 4 months worth of living!!

Finally...SWEET TEA!!!

We are SO very happy and proud to announce that we have found a permanent home for the next year!!!! :) :) :) You have NO idea how ecstatic we are about this. The past year has been simply amazing, but let's face it, picking up and moving every 4 to 5 months is not fun. In case you weren't aware, here was the living situation for the first 9 months of our newlywed marriage:

July 19: Got married and left for honeymoon.

July 30: Returned from honeymoon.

July 30-August 9: Stayed between both sets of parents in Pelzer and Belton (living out of suitcases).

August 9-December 17: Packed EVERYTHING we had and either put it into storage or took it to our very little Charleston single for Jonathan's 1st semester of graduate school with Clemson.

December 17-January 6: Stayed in the basement room of Jonathan's parents' house in Belton while living out of storage bins and suitcases, and simultaneously making everything we owned fit back into storage (plus some because we acquired some furniture while in Charleston being that we had NONE when we moved down there) OR into 1 suitcase (for our trip to Italy).

January 6-May 3: Lived in a beautiful, huge, old villa in Italy for Jonathan's 2nd semester of graduate school. Although immaculate, we had 1 small bedroom to call our own. We only took clothes with us.

May 3-May 15: Again stayed between both sets of parents in Pelzer and Belton (living out of suitcases).

I have to say, that we have definitely not had the typical 1st year of marriage!! It's been WONDERFUL and I wouldn't change one, single thing about any of it, but definitely not typical. I also have to say that the hardest time was probably in between Charleston and Italy during Christmas break. We had NO clue what to pack and what to leave behind, and we just wanted to enjoy the break and spend time with family and friends. It was a GREAT Christmas, but definitely the most exhausting one that we have ever experienced. We worked more than we rested, and we were packing (whether that be in a suitcase or into storage) up until the morning we flew out for Italy. I can't wait until we have Christmas this year in our new, permanent home. :)

Mother's Day 2009...Stateside and back with the land of the livng!!

Now that brings us up to speed. We actually searched ALL last week for a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment in our price range (which wasn't a whole lot). We found something early in the week, but knew that we needed to keep on searching for the best deal. When it all came down to it, on Friday we had narrowed it down to 2 apartments, 1 of them being the favorite from earlier in the week. We put it down on paper, compared savings and prices, and in the end, our favorite was the one. God is SO good!!! :) :)

Now I am just waiting on my precious, amazing husband to get home from work so we can head on over to get our key and start moving things in. We'll be in the Clemson/Central area so that Jonathan is only minutes from campus. He has one more year of graduate school, which will all be spent in Clemson, and next May he will graduate with his MArch degree from Clemson University and be 1 step closer to fulfilling his life's dream of becoming a licensed architect. :)

Keep us in your prayers as we move this weekend and as I continue to wait on God's timing for not only a summer job, but an answer about this fall. I know that He will make a way and provide for us no matter what, but the need for summer work is immediate, and my heart truly desires to be back in the classroom at Calhoun this fall. I love what I do and I am truly passionate about it. Teaching is my calling and I miss it terribly.